Chapter 735 Westward Expedition (2)(2/2)
At this time, Li Zhigao also led the main forward force to cross the trenches and charge out.
The enemy general Yuan Shou could not hold on for long. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he fled in a panic surrounded by his cavalry. The remaining Shu soldiers collapsed completely. They either knelt down and surrendered, or were shot and killed mercilessly by bows, crossbows, spears and halberds.
.
By dusk, Li Zhigao withdrew his troops and horses into the Shangliang Gorge. They had killed thousands of Shu soldiers and captured more than 900 Shu soldiers. The total casualties of the Liangzhou Army and Luoyang Cavalry in the two days were less than 500.
.
If the main force of the rear army had not taken the Rhinoceros Road slowly, the bulk of the supplies would have lagged even further, and they did not have enough troops. They took advantage of the enemy's rout and rushed to Tianshui, captured most of Qinzhou, and completely blocked Wang Xiaoxian's headquarters.
To the east of Longshan, it is not unimaginable.
Although the journey from Mianyang and Lueyang was only 300 miles, Rhinoceros Station was too narrow and dangerous, and the soldiers were trapped and did not get enough rest. Nearly 600 casualties accumulated, and for the time being, they could not continue to pursue and defeat the enemy.
The combat effectiveness of attacking a city and seizing a stronghold.
After gathering his troops back to Shangliang Gorge, Li Zhigao was not in a hurry to attack the Qiang tribes and Shanglu and Tonghe cities between Shangliang Gorge and Niuwei Gorge and north of the Rhinoceros River. Instead, he and Feng Yi formally attacked Daliang Long
You Xuan comfort envoy, sent in the name of the military envoy of the Duyuan Supervisor
He personally rode to the villages of the Qiang tribes and Shanglu and Tonghe cities, and ordered the Hou family and other Qiang tribes to surrender to Daliang.
Of course, in addition to letting bygones be bygones, the conditions for accepting vassalage from the Qiang tribes such as the Hou family are also quite generous. In addition to the need to allocate people to the cultivated land for unified grain and tax collection, they only require the cavalry of the Qiang tribes to accept the Longyou Xuan Comfort Envoy.
With the moderation, you can even be exempted from other taxes.
Another point is that the Longyou Xuanwei Envoy will directly set up trading points in each Hanzhai and Fanzhai. Citizens of Chengzhou counties, especially Han people, regardless of their status, can directly trade goods with the trading points, and Qiang people.
Tribes are not allowed to interfere.
Although Chengzhou was occupied by Tubo for more than a hundred years in the previous dynasty, and the forces of the Qiang tribes who surrendered to Tubo became stronger in Chengzhou, the southwestern region of Longxi, including Chengzhou, Wuzhou, Qinzhou and other places, has been close to the Central Plains Dynasty since the Qin and Han Dynasties.
As the ruling center of the Central Plains, it accepted the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty, and countless Han soldiers and civilians moved in to live and multiply.
In terms of population ratio, at this time, Han people accounted for more than 70% of the total population in the Shanglu Valley west of Shangliang Gorge, and they had a relatively complete farming foundation.
During the Tubo occupation, the Han people had a low status and were enslaved. During the Zhaozong period of the previous dynasty, the Guanzhong troops recovered the southwestern Longxi region and mainly used the Qiang tribe to rule these areas. The Han people were still in a enslaved position.
Even though the Qiang tribes did not have a tradition of annexing fields, in addition to forcing the Han people to pay grain and maintaining local political power, the Qiang tribes also completely monopolized local commerce and trade.
At present, the Western Expeditionary Army has taken over local political power, but direct land taxes and levies cannot solve the food supply problem of the Western Expeditionary Army. This requires further breaking the Qiang tribe's monopoly on local trade.
Although the Qiang tribes were surrendered and a well-regulated cavalry unit was assembled in a short period of time, the larger the cavalry unit, which was dominated by Qiang cavalry, became difficult to control.
However, relying only on the narrow Rhinoceros Station, the supplies delivered are limited, and the transportation costs are extremely high, and cannot be controlled from logistical supplies. It is difficult to imagine the possibility of the assembled Qiang cavalry being reorganized into the elite of the Daliang lineage.
Although Han Qian did not impose too many restrictions on Li Zhigao, and even after marching into Longyou, he decided that Li Zhigao would be responsible for recommending local officials. However, he asked Li Zhigao to try his best to solve the problem of oppression and enslavement of the Han people in Longyou.
At that time, it was particularly emphasized that the Han people of Longyou must be able to directly participate in the trade between Rhinoceros Station and the Longyou area.
In these years, Han Qian implemented the fundamental principles of the new system. In the case of limited space for the development of productive forces, he mainly tried every means to squeeze the space for the middle rentier class to occupy social production interests through various means.
The advantage of this is that it can not only give the common people at the bottom a breath of relief, but also protect the central income; in fact, the benefits held by the rentier class in the middle will be distributed as much as possible to both ends.
The people will be safe if they have food to cover their bellies and clothing to cover their bodies, and the affairs of the military and state are nothing more than money and food.
No matter who has the talent and scheming of gods and ghosts to solve this fundamental problem, they will not be able to turn the tide and resolve the real crisis; and to solve this fundamental problem, not to mention Han Qian, Shen Yang, The ability of Huang Hua and others can also govern a country in an orderly manner.
In Daliang, Han Qian broke the monopoly of local forces on grain trade and implemented a policy of unified sales and purchase of key materials such as grains. He has successfully suppressed grain prices to 600 yuan per stone.
This not only solves the problem of food supply balance within Daliang and solves the problem of famine among the poor at the bottom, but it is also extremely important. Even if Han Qian decides to leave the food tax collected from the traditional field tax to the states and counties for their own use, the central government cannot With less than one-third of the money from the Jianghuai region, enough military rations can be purchased from the local area to support the war effort.
Grain prices in the Jianghuai River have always been quite high. A very important reason is that clan and township lords mainly occupy most of the local surplus grain through annexation of land, and then have a near-complete monopoly on the local grain trade.
In fact, most of the huge profits generated by high food prices have been taken up by old and new landowners such as clans, township lords and so on.
Over the past dynasties, in order to obtain cheap, sufficient and stable food, the central government has levied physical taxes, mainly on food, from various places and transported them to the central government and military garrison regardless of the cost. This has actually caused huge losses. Loss.
Longyou, especially the three prefectures of Chengwu and Qin in southwest Longnan, has abundant rainfall and a large number of valleys and dams between the mountains. After thousands of years of reclamation, it has a good farming foundation and large tracts of pasture to supplement the source of meat. There is no problem in obtaining sufficient supplies on the spot for 20,000 soldiers and horses.
The problem is that the three prefectures and nine counties have a population of less than 200,000. They have been able to collect full land taxes and taxes, and they can only collect 100,000 shi of grain and grain, which can only meet less than half of the supply needs of 20,000 soldiers and horses. The rest needs to be How to solve the problem through trade is the first issue that the Western Expedition Army must consider.
The Rhinoceros Trail is narrow and dangerous, and there are mostly solid rock cliffs along the way. It is difficult to expand it in a short period of time like the Songnan Plank Road regardless of cost. Currently, only high value-added products such as tea, porcelain, medicinal materials, cotton cloth, and salt can be expanded. Freight enters Southwest Longnan for trade.
If the Han people at the bottom, who actually farm and produce food, are not allowed to directly participate in trade and continue to watch the Qiang tribe monopolize trade, huge profits will inevitably be taken up by local tribal forces, and the living conditions of the Han people at the bottom will not be substantially improved. If the customs were changed, the profits shared by the Western Expeditionary Army from trade would not be able to make up for the gap in food and grass supplies.
However, if the Han people can directly participate in trade, the Western Expeditionary Army can purchase grain and grass cheaply from the trade. On the one hand, it can also intercept more profits and purchase more grain, cattle and sheep and other meat, and truly improve the local economy. Only by improving the living conditions of the farming Han people can we truly gain the support of the Han people who make up the majority of the population in southwestern Longxi.
Feng Yi, the military envoy of Longyou Dudu, did not impose any restrictions or restraints on Li Zhigao in other aspects, but even though he was using old officials from Liangzhou, he insisted on setting up as many direct trade points as possible within the Shanglu Valley. Special emphasis was placed on allowing Han people to directly bring grain to trade, and must not continue to allow the Qiang tribe to monopolize local trade for the sake of convenience or to win over the Qiang tribes.
Of course, the Hou family and other Qiang tribes should not be particularly sensitive to the subtleties of this in the early stage. However, Feng Yi stressed this point with Li Zhigao, Zhang Song, Deng Tai, Dong Zehai, He Yan and others in the military meeting, and he was also worried about Li Zhigao.
The officials under them do not have a clear enough understanding, and they will try to save trouble during implementation or they will be bribed by local forces later, and will not firmly implement this.
Zhang Song, Deng Tai, Dong Zehai, He Yan and other generals knew more or less about political affairs, but when Feng Yi explained these principles and the goals behind them at the military meeting, they were all shocked and thought to themselves, no wonder these years
Chapter completed!